THE CLASSICAL QUESTION IN GERMANY. 295 



Now as to the report itself, it may fairly be objected by the real- 

 school men that the real schools have not had a fair trial, that the pe- 

 riod of probation has been so brief that any report made now, whether 

 favorable or unfavorable, must be regarded as premature and at best 

 merely provisional. The real schools of the first class are not yet 

 twenty-five years old. The regulation admitting their graduates to 

 partial university privileges bears date, as said above, of December 7, 

 1870. In less than ten years they were expected to win a place by the 

 side of their rivals, which even their bitter opponents (for the profess- 

 ors who made the reports were all graduates of the gymnasia) should 

 acknowledge to be an equal one, and if they should not succeed in do- 

 ing this they were to be condemned as unable to fit boys properly for 

 the university. Further, they were expected to do this with almost 

 no aid from the Government, while their rivals were largely supported 

 by contributions from the state. How just this complaint is may be 

 seen from the reports of government aid accorded in Prussia to these 

 two classes of schools. In the year 1869 the Government contributed 

 714,148 thalers out of a total expenditure of 2,851,253 thalers for gym- 

 nasia ; and in 1874, 1,319,990 thalers out of a total of 4,385,940 tha- 

 lers for the same purpose. In the former year the real schools of the 

 first class cost 666,368 thalers, of which the Government contributed 

 15,558 thalers. In the latter year the respective sums stood 1,251,921 

 and 97,421 thalers. It thus appears that the Government paid in 1869 

 nearly forty-six times as much toward supporting gymnasia as it did 

 toward supporting real schools, and in 1874 over thirteen times as much. 

 In 1869 it paid over twenty-five per cent of the total expense of all 

 gymnasia, and less than three per cent of that of the real schools ; in 1874 

 the respective rates stood over thirty per cent and less than eight per 

 cent. It will thus be seen that the Government has proceeded on the 

 plan of allowing the real schools to pay their own way. The wonder 

 is, that they have such good results to show for their work under such 

 circumstances. It should be also considered in this connection that 

 the proper equipment of a real school, with first-class apparatus, etc., 

 costs much more than that of a gymnasium. Another fact should 

 be borne in mind, that owing to this lack of support the number of such 

 schools is much smaller than that of the gymnasia, and they have con- 

 sequently not had so extensive a field to draw from as the latter. An- 

 other important point must be mentioned in this connection. Up to 

 1871 the graduates of the real school passed immediately into active 

 life instead of attending a higher institution of learning. The matter 

 and methods of the school had, therefore, exclusive reference to that 

 fact, and under the new system they must have time to modify and 

 adapt themselves to the altered circumstances. Any practical teacher 

 will appreciate the importance of this consideration. These are some 

 of the objections which the defenders of the real schools have to urge 

 against any unfavorable report made at this stage of the work. Against 



